


An Ill-Fated Crown

by Inwitari_Turelie



Category: Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Abandonment Issues, Angst, Elrond dosen't like magical jewellery, Gen, Grief/Mourning, References to Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-01
Updated: 2012-10-01
Packaged: 2017-11-15 11:03:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/526584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inwitari_Turelie/pseuds/Inwitari_Turelie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gil-Galad is dead and the crown falls to Elrond. Should he accept it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Ill-Fated Crown

Gil-Galad is dead.

Ereinion Gil-Galad is dead and they press Elrond to take the crown.

Gil-Galad is dead.

Gil-Galad’s court was Elrond’s third home and he left it for Imladris before he could lose it as he lost the others.

Gil-Galad is gone and Elrond thinks that he has lost Lindon anyway. Those who are left may reside in the harbours or come to Imladris if they will but he has lost Lindon. For him Lindon will forever just be another person he has lost.

Just as Havens of Sirion are his mother.

Just as the camps of his childhood are Maglor and Maedhros.

He does not wish to admit even to himself what he lost when he lost Elros.

People used to ask if Mithlond reminded him of the Havens. Truthfully Elrond remembers them very little. He does remember his mother throwing herself off a cliff rather than surrendering the Silmaril. He had believed her dead until Glorfindel returned from Valinor. At the time he had been angry. Now he feels he should understand. He does not admit to anyone that on the most basic of level he still fails to. He does not hate her though. He cannot even judge her; not after a childhood of seeing what the Silmarils can drive one too. Yet. He cannot claim that he never resents her.

He does hate the Silmarils. They may be but an object but they he lost two parents through them. He does not remember Eärendal. Of course now he can see his blood-father in the sky but it is difficult to truly feel that is what he is seeing when he looks upon that star. Though he does not say so it is Maglor who he considers his true father. He is sure Eärendal is a fine person; he knows his father by blood is the hero of Arda but nothing changes the fact that he was simply never there for Elrond to form any bond to. He knows this just as he knows that the sons of Fëanor should never have taken them from Sirion and that no doubt he would have grown up more happily in Balar. Yet in this heart impolitic though it is, wrong as it may be, he is Elrond Maglorion. It is not without reason that he prefers to be known as Elrond Peredhil when it comes to claiming his heritage and side step the issue of his father. Yet it is through Eärendal that he can claim Gil-Galad's crown. Maglor would tell him not to take the crown and he would know better than most. Maedhros would also and he is the one who gave it up. They are not here to advise him though. He hears that they are mostly likely dead, probably by their own hands. He does not, cannot admit to any that he holds the Kinslayer in such high esteem or that both he and Elros, for all their Sindarin blood, were brought up more traditionally Nolder than perhaps any others since the rising of the sun. No one had questioned Elros' use of Quenya for his titles in Numenor; after all the Edain had learnt Quenya as a language of command from the Vanyar and unfallen Noldor during the War of Wrath. Only a few recalcitrant Sindar whispers about the shame of one of Thingol's line choosing to name himself in the language of the Kinslayers his forebear had banned. Their past was not why his brother did it but Elrond doubts an Elros raised by Elwing would have done it. When Cirdan had taken them in and Gil-Galad had acceptance of them to his Kingdom it he had seen both Nolder and Sindar mingled almost indistinguishably together and he’d managed to lose any obvious signs in this behaviour but all this is still there. He shudders at those of raised him in the end he cannot but hope they have finally found peace.

That is the past. Now Gil-Galad has left him Vilya. Elrond does not wish to take it though he must and will do. He had known that Annatar was not as fair as he seemed but even had Sauron not been involved Celebrimbor’s work would still have left him uneasy. They compared the smith too often to his grandfather for Elrond to be comfortable given the results of Fëanor’s craft. Elrond does not wish death on any Elf but perhaps it is for the best that that line is ended. Celebrimbor may not have been bound by the Oath but that line sometimes seemed to carry a curse more than just the oath.

Which since he considers Maglor his father in spirit he supposes that makes him cursed twice over as those whose blood he carries have hardly been lucky. Their lives might make impressive stories but perhaps they were all lost when Lúthien saw Beren. Or maybe even when Thingol saw Melian.

Elrond had thought Elros had escaped this fate when he chose to be of the younger kindred, a bittersweet comfort in the wake of his brother's loss. They say that Men are free in ways the Eldar are not, that they are not bound to the cycles of the world. Yet Elros might have lived happily but those of his descendants who still live are back on these shores refugees from their island fallen below the sea. Elrond feels responsible for his brother's people now. Isildur's taking of the Ring is but a continuation of a common theme in their family. And one that Elrond can blame himself for.

Ereinion Gil-Galad’s crown is another ill-fated inheritance. An ill-fated crown of an ill-fated people. Gil-galad may have ruled the Kingdom of Lindon but his title was High King of the Nolder. There seems little reason for that now. The Nolder left are few enough now and most are mixed so thoroughly with the Sindar that a division seems pointless

Elrond himself is proof of that. He may in Turgon have a Grandfather who was High King of the Noldar; have had perhaps as strong a claim to that title as Ereinion Gil-Galad did, and have been raised by those who have also held that title but he is also directly descended from Thingol, High King of the Sindar.

Should Elrond take Gil-Galad’s crown he could unite the two.

He will not.

To unite two ill-fated crowns is unlikely to improve their fate.

Being Kings has hardly helped his brother's descendants.

The time of such figures is over. Amroth and Thranduil may be Kings of their own realms, but Elrond has no wish to join their ranks, nay to place himself above. Imladris is enough for him to rule directly and he has no need of such a title for that.


End file.
